Powdersville High School student Emerald Wilson says that she and her classmates now participate in drills "to practice where we will run" if a gunman enters the building.

"We act as if holding a weapon of mass destruction is the equivalent to a fire or a natural disaster," she said.

Wilson joined several other students Saturday who gave speeches calling for an end to gun violence and school shootings during the March for Our Lives rally. More than 100 people attended the event, which was held in front of the Anderson County Courthouse.

Caroline Sullivan, an eighth-grader at Southwood Middle School, said students "know exactly what it feels like to be scared to come to school and we are sick and tired of it.”

T.L. Hanna High School student Charles Brown said "students are literally dying to be heard."

“We are here to do something about it," he said.

"My mom needs to be worried about whether or not I am failing psychology, which I am," Brown said, eliciting laughter from the crowd. "She should be more worried about that than the possibility of her saying goodbye to me when I go to school could be the last time.”

Tonya Winbush speaks behind a group of students at the March for Our Lives rally in downtown Anderson on Saturday. More than 100 people took part in the event calling for an end to gun violence and school shootings.(Photo: Kirk Brown/Independent Mail)

Tonya Winbush, an Army veteran from Anderson, also spoke at the rally. The crowd cheered as she said she is supporting students who want stricter gun laws because "enough is enough."

Mary Geren, a Democrat from Anderson who is running for Congress, attended the rally. She said she also was planning to go to the March for Our Lives event Saturday afternoon in Greenville. Similar events were being held across the nation, including a large gathering in Washington, D.C.